Pokémon war driving: Catch 'em faster, get more XP, and save your legs!

How do you catch more Pokémon, faster, and without having to walk around? Get a driver!

Pokémon Go is one of the most enjoyable reasons to walk around your city discovering not only Pokémon, but great real-life landmarks. But when you’re just in the mood to get more XP, find the most number of Pokémon in the shortest amount of time, or just save your legs for another adventure, your can go on a “war drive”.

Wardriving is a term originally used to describe people who drove around in a car looking for Wi-Fi access points. My colleague, Alex Dobie, calls the Pokémon version the “Drowzee Drive-by”. Whatever term you choose to use, and whether you use a car or take advantage of public transport, it’s great way to catch ’em all.

Streetcar Squirtle

In Toronto, where I live, I take the streetcar everywhere. And sitting on one of the plush seats gave me insight into the way Pokémon Go’s world is populated, both with PokeStops, gyms, and creatures. Most of the activity, at least in a busy city like Toronto, happens in densely-populated areas, which is usually on the same routes travelled by streetcars, trams, and buses.

Once a Pokémon appears on your screen and you tap on it, the game will enter the battle and let it continue until it is finished.

As a result, on a recent trip across the city, all I had to do was keep the game open and randomly pick off Pokémon as they came into my purview. While gyms and PokeStops have fairly strictly-defined geofences, which require you to be right next to them to activate, once a Pokémon appears on your screen and you tap on it, the game will enter the battle and let it continue until it is finished — hopefully, with the pocket monster comfortably resting inside a PokeBall.

Because of this, I was able to capture a Pokémon every 20 seconds or so upon my eastward venture through my city, and the same thing happened the next day. The variable speed of public buses and trams makes it difficult to reliably enter PokeStops for potions and PokeBalls, but it’s perfect to fulfil what is essentially the purpose of the game: catching Pokemon.

The other great thing about using public transit in Pokemon Go is that routes generally follow the same path, which means you’ll come back to the same spot on the reverse trip. While Pokemon generally spawn in different locations, busy places tend to stay busy, giving you a chance to capitalize twice from the same area — without having to do anything!

Drowzee Drive-by

Because no one should ever Pokemon Go and drive, if you want to go out in a car you’ll need a driver. Once you have that, though, you can cruise the city looking for the best catches. Of course, there is nothing particularly notable about getting to a well-known Pokemon spawn area faster in a vehicle than on foot, but I’ve heard stories of a few people claiming a gym only to see a car pull up with four or five people inside, re-take the gym for their team, and drive off to pursue another victory.

This practice is different than driving around aimlessly looking for Pokemon in your home town, since drive-bys usually contain more than just a passenger and a driver, and requires a bit more persistence than the average Trainer.

The key to a proper Drowzee Drive-by is to stake out the gyms that are close together, and accessible from a vehicle. The more quickly you can get to the next spot, the easier it will be to create a consistent stream of disruption. Travelling with a pack of four or five members of the same team considerably increases the odds of taking that gym, too.

What about you?

Got any other Pokemon Go wardriving tips? Let us know in the comments below!

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